![]() ![]() My last complaint: my fingers occasionally hit the bottom of the floating iPad. Other third-party iPad keyboards from brands like Brydge also come with a function row, which makes Apple’s omission all the more baffling. There’s even a home button for returning you to the home screen. You know, so I can keep my fingers on the keyboard… like on a laptop.Įven my Logitech Ultrathin Magnetic Clip-On Keyboard for my old iPad Air 2 has function keys. Do you need buttons to control brightness when you can mouse up to the Control Center to adjust brightness, volume, Wi-Fi, etc? No, but it sure would have been great if I didn’t have to drag a cursor all the way to the upper right corner of the screen to do so. Not good when it’s already easy to rub bone to the iPad. The first is that adding another row of buttons above the number keys would have made it harder to reach underneath the screen. Why are there no function keys? I suspect there are two reasons. The keys are tactile without feeling hollow. It’s really inconsistent and confusing to my muscle memory to switch between hitting Esc on my MacBook and desktop PC and Option on my iPad. Remapping keys is also not something you’d easily figure out on your own (Settings > General > Keyboard > Hardware Keyboard > Modifier Keys). For instance, I re-mapped my Option key as an Escape key and it works for exiting fullscreen YouTube videos in Safari, but not in the YouTube app, and not when I fullscreen photos in the Photos app. There’s a workaround: you can remap one of the modifier keys (Command, Option, Control, Caps Lock, or Globe) to replicate an Escape function, but it’s not quite the same. I’m used to hitting the Escape key on my MacBook Pro to do things like exit a fullscreen video or photo I can’t do this with the Magic Keyboard. The keyboard is very comfortable to type on. Three things I don’t like about the keyboard: the lack of an Escape key, the lack of function keys, and my fingers keep bumping up against the iPad Pro when I press the top row of numbers/symbols. Super underrated: the inverted-T arrow keys are sublime. The keyboard is backlit, too - something I missed greatly whenever I used the Smart Keyboard Folio in the dark. They’re tactile without feeling hollow like the covered butterfly keys on Apple’s Smart Keyboard Folio, which it still sells. Each key has a good amount of resistance and travel. Hands down, this is one of the best portable keyboards I’ve used and the keys are nearly as good as my beloved pre-butterfly keyboard 13-inch MacBook Pro and nearly as solid as the scissor keys on the entire lineup of MacBook Pros now. The only difference is that it has five rows of keys instead of six (the Touch Bar for function keys). The 12.9-inch version I’ve been testing has the same full-size keys as my 2019 work 13-inch MacBook Pro. Typing blissĮasily the best part of the Magic Keyboard is the typing experience. An iPad is made to be touched, begs to be touched, and is better because you just reach up and touch things on the display. There’s nothing that I can’t do with the trackpad that I can’t do with my finger or the Apple Pencil. The Magic Keyboard’s trackpad allows for more precision for certain tasks, but it’s hardly essential. It feels wrong.Īs a longtime iPad user who’s spent years accepting the tablet as a different kind of computer designed with touch at the core - one that’s not a laptop or trying to be one - I found myself rejecting the trackpad more than I thought I would. It feels half-baked and incomplete with the current version of iPadOS. The MacBook-like keyboard with scissor-switches is heavenly to type on, but I’m not sold on Apple shoehorning a trackpad (and cursor) on the iPad. I’ve been using the Magic Keyboard with a 2020 iPad Pro for the last two weeks to really get a feel for it beyond my initial knee-jerk excitement and it’s beautifully chaotic. ![]() At last: the iPad can replace a laptop! Not quite. At first glance, the accessory for the iPad Pro (works with 20 models), which starts at $299 for the 11-inch version and $349 for the 12.9-inch model, gives off Microsoft Surface Pro vibes. ![]() More specifically, Apple is selling a Magic Keyboard that’s part case, stand, keyboard, and trackpad. An unexpected coronavirus has ravaged the world, the OnePlus 8 Pro has a flagship-worthy camera, and the iPad now supports mice and trackpads. ![]()
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